Coated glassware



June 7, 1938. A. H. STEWART COATED GLASSWARE Filed July 8, 1935 INVENTOR Juno 7,

PATENT orrics aliases COATED GLASSWABE mum announce-immune Phomix Glass Company, Monaoa, PL, a corporationol'weat Application July a. 1935, Serial No. 30,343

-3 Claims.

My invention relates tothe coating and decorating of glassware whereby a closely adherent metallic surface layer is provided having certain desired characteristics such that it may be empioyed in connection with illuminating ware, sign plates, etc.

In the spraying of glassware with a light reflective metal coating,it is possible to secure a me'tal coating that appears to be smooth and i continuous when viewed from the opposite side of the glass, and which is highly reflective. However, if the metal coating is not of very great thickness, light which is present at the uncoated side of the glass body will be visible through the coating, in the form of tiny rays which come through what appear to be pin holes in the coating. It is usualLv undesirable to apply the metal layer so thickly that these pin holes are not present, since considerable time and expense is involved in spraying the glass to form a coating of a thickness sufllcient to totally prevent any light rays from passing therethrough. In addition to requiring a greater expenditure for metal, the thicker coating may add to the weight of the 26 article to an undesirable degree.

My invention has for its object the provision of glassware that will have a mirror-like coating of metal, which coating, while it is not so thick as to preclude passage therethrough of all rays of light, is sufficiently continuous to present what appears to be an unbroken minor surface, and is provided with a backing that will insure against minute rays of light shining through the coating.

Another object of my invention has been to as provide new and improved procedure for applying metal coatings to glass and similar types of articles. In this connection, I have particular reference to the steps of moving the glass article relative to the spray gun during the operation whereby a continuous band may be provided, and

I also have reference to the steps whereby a pinrality of spray guns are employed which utilize the same or different colored metals to produce desired designs upon the glass article.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a schematic view showing apparatus for applying a metal coating to a lamp shade; Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the shade with the metal coating in place, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view so showing the backing material on the exposed side of the metal coating.

As shown in the drawing, the numeral 3 represents a spray gun which may be of a well-known type, and which contains feed rollers for advancing a metal wire 4 from a spool or reel I.

A gas is supplied to the chamber of the gun for melting the wire as rapidly as it is advanced into the gun, and an air blast is also supplied by means of which the molten metal is discharged in an atomized condition, or sprayed from the nozzle 0 of the gun, against the surfaces to be coated. In the present case, I show a lamp globe or shade I that is supported on a blow pipe 0 by means of which it has been formed within a mold.

While the metal is being sprayed upon the exterior of the article, the blow pipe is rotated slowly upon a support 9 to present desired portions of the surface of the article to the spray.' Upon each revolution of the shade I, it and the gun are shifted relative to one another in a direction axially of the shade. If desired, two guns can be employed, each spraying a difierent metal on the article. By using metals of contrasting colors, stripes and other decorative effects can be secured. A single coating ID of metal will perhaps be .0016 inch in thickness, while two spray coatings may have a thickness of .003 inch, it being obvious that the metal can be deposited to any desired thickness. The metal can be sprayed interiorly of the shade instead of exteriorly thereof, if desired.

While it has been well-known that metal surfaces can be spray-coated with molten metal in the manner above-described, I have found that I hot glass coated in the manner above-explained is highly desirable for various purposes. Either machine or hand-blown articles as they come from the molds at temperatures of 1000" F. to 1500 F., when sprayed in the manner aboveexplained, will have, an extremely intimate contact with the metal coating. Satisfactory results are also secured when glass is approximately 800 F. To provide a physically adherent coating, I spray the molten metal while the article is still hot from the shaping operation.

The coated ware can then be passed through an annealing lehr in the usual manner, since the metal coating does not interfere with the proper annealing of the ware, and since the metal coating and the glass body are both subjected to the annealing temperatures, there will be no ruptures developed, and the particles of metal and glass will adjust themselves to one another through the uniform cooling thereof at the discharge end of the lehr.

Various metals may be employed such as silver, tin, chromium, aluminum, cadmium, stainless steel, iron, lead and various others, including brass. In the shade shown in the drawing, the

interior thereof is highly reflective, particularly if one of the lighter colored metals are employed. If the shade be sprayed interlorly-thereof, the reflecting surface will, of course, be presented to the exterior of the .shade. While the exposed side of the deposited metal is somewhat rough, it can be polished readily, without danger of causingit to be chipped or peeled from the glass.

Flatglass also can be decorated in the manner described, and if silver, tin, aluminum, or similarly bright metals are employed as a coating material, a highly emcient mirror will be produced that is cheaper than and superior in durability to mirrors of the ordinary type. In cases where so great a percentage of reflection is not desired, some of the darker metals will be employed. p

To produce decorative efiects, a mask of desired pattern may be placed against the article before spraying; also stripes and lines may be applied by the spray gun in desired colors, or two jets of different colors such as silver and gold can be applied to the articles.

When a fairly thin metal coating is applied to the glass, it will, when viewed from the interior of the shade 1, be in efiect a mirror, with no visible holes through the coating. However, when the shade is illuminated interiorly, and viewed from'the outside, pin holes of light are likely to be present, because the light will shine through minute holes in the coating. In order to overcome this objectionable feature, I apply a backing layer II to the metal c'oat ID. This backing layer may be in the form of a paint consisting of either any opaque paiht, lacquer, aluminum powder and varnish, bronze powder and varnish, lead paint, etc. The outer layer II will not only seal the metal coating against the discharge oi light, but will produce a smoother surface than that normally present on the exposed side of the metal coating.

The painted-on layer can be of the same color as the metal coating, or oi any other desired color or colors,in order to produce desired decorative eflects. Also, it can be of translucent tinted material which will give color effects to light rays that pass through pin holes in the coating. v

I claim as my invention:-

1. A shaped glass article having a portion of its surface coated with metal sprayed thereon while the article is still hot from the shaping thereof, and having an outer protective coating of translucent tinted material applied to the metal coating and giving color effects to light rays that pass through minute openings in the metal coating.

2. A shaped glass article having a portion of its surface coated with molten metal applied thereto while the article is hot, said metal coating being light reflective when viewed through the glass article and having openings therein, the article having a coating of translucent tinted material applied to the metal coating over the openings therein and giving color effects to light rays that pass through the openings.

3. A shaped, glass article having a portion of its surface coated with molten metal of suitable color applied thereto while the article is hot, said coating having openings between portions thereof, said shaped glass article also having a coating of translucent tinted material applied thereto over the openings of the metal coating and giving color efiect's to light rays that pass through such openings.

ANDREW H. STEWART. 

